House Immigration Bill Back on Track, Say Bipartisan Negotiators

Labrador said the group of eight House members working on an immigration rewrite have resolved one contentious issue: how and whether immigrants awaiting citizenship should be able to obtain health insurance.

Bipartisan House negotiators emerged from a critical meeting Thursday signaling that they again have come to a tentative agreement on a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration system.

Coming just a week after a tentative agreement was nearly derailed over health care disagreements, however, the path ahead for the legislation is anything but assured. Members of both parties noted that although a major hurdle has been averted, further issues could arise as the legislation is drafted.

Rep. Raúl R. Labrador, R-Idaho, said the group of eight negotiators has resolved the contentious issue of how and whether immigrants waiting to become citizens should be able to obtain health insurance.

He said provisional citizens will not be eligible for Medicaid or taxpayer subsidies to join health insurance exchanges, but that in the event of an emergency, they can receive medical care without the threat of deportation as long as they pay the bill. He also said they will be mandated to provide their own insurance on penalty of deportation.

“The law already requires that in an emergency situation no one can be denied health care. That’s what I thought our agreement was two weeks ago, but apparently some people needed clarification on that,” Labrador said, exiting the meeting. “I don’t think much changed today. I think there was just some confusion about some details. But I think we’re all good.”

Other members were mum on details, but Democrats signaled that they, too, believed an agreement had been struck. “We agreed not to make detailed comments, but I’m smiling, not frowning,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.

Labrador’s characterization of the health care deal comports with what Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said earlier Thursday before the group met. She told reporters she is hopeful a bill can move to conference with the Senate before the August recess.

“We have said since day one — we said it in the Affordable Care Act and we’ll say it here again — that undocumented people will not have access to subsidies in the Affordable Care Act,” she said. “Secondly: no access to Medicaid. No cost to the taxpayer, that has always been the Democratic position. So any thought that we want to do something different than that is simply not true.”

Pelosi signaled that the overall talks are far from over. She raised an issue with E-Verify, an Internet program that would allow employers to substantiate an employee’s eligibility to work in the United States.

She noted that tentative language would revert provisional immigrants back to undocumented status if the program is not fully implemented on time.